Overview

The current CKC card game was first released in January 2015 as part of the “SPN4” card release set. This new Trading Card Game replaces the older “Combat Deck” fixed card game.

In the game, 2-4 players assemble kaiju teams, and battle for Glory. The first team to accumulate 20 Glory, or the last team standing, is the winner of the game!

In order to play, each player needs the following items:

A valid Kaiju Team (with or without Team Card)

A valid Combat Deck

Several small counters (pennies, dice, glass beads, etc.)

This page explains how to build your teams & combat decks, and defines the terms & icons used. In many cases, these have been designed to match up with the CKC video game. (For example, QUICK attack cards are blue because the blue “X” button on Xbox controllers triggers those attacks in the video game.)

Basic rules & turn flow are explained in the Card Game Rules page.
Combat Rules have their own page, since combat is the core of the game.

Buying the Cards

Right now, the best way to buy card is via the Sunstone Games Store. SPN1-SPN3 have a wide variety of characters, while SPN4 is a mixture of characters, Team Cards, and kaiju. There are also various trading threads on the forums, for those of you willing to put in the effort.

Building a Team

A kaiju team is 2 or more kaiju who are working together for the duration of the game. Kaiju form teams for many reasons - as explained by the many different Team Cards. Most teams are built around “Affiliations” - which are the keywords printed on the back of SPN4+ kaiju on the red band. For those of you who want to use SPN1, SPN2, or SPN3 kaiju on your teams, we have retroactively assigned all of them affiliations, which you can view on the card info page for each set.

If you are using a Team Card : Each Team Card has yellow text on the back which explains the rules for creating your kaiju team.

If you are not using a Team Card : It is also possible to create a team using the imaginary “default” Team Card, which has the following composition rules:

Select up to three kaiju who share an affiliation keyword. You may not select kaiju who have the keywourds LEADER, TYRANT, MONARCH, or SOLITARY.

Team Initiative: 50

Planning Draw: 5

Fury: 10

Fortitude Bonus: 2

Building a Combat Deck

Combat Cards fall into a few different types:

Attack cards (sword icon)

Defense cards (shield icon)

Technique cards (either icon)

Counter Attack cards (shield icon)

Event cards (no icon)

When you have the initiative (attacking), you may play attack & technique cards. When you do not have initiative (defending) you may play defense, counter attack, or technique cards. To put this another way, the attacker uses sword-icon cards, and the defender uses shield-icon cards. “Technique” cards may be played by the attacker OR defender, regardless of the card's icon. Event cards are played only at specific times - the card itself will tell you when it should be played.

With those definitions out of the way, there are only three rules regarding how you build your combat deck:

You may not include more than 2 copies of any specific card.

Your Combat Deck must have at least 20 cards total.

You must include an identical number of sword icon and shield icon cards.

In general, this means a combat deck is exactly 10 sword icon cards and 10 shield icon cards. If you wish to include combat events, this could be 9 sword, 9 shield + 2 combat events, or 10 sword, 10 shield + 1 combat event, or any other combination which meets the three rules.

Damage Fury & KO

Whenever a character is dealt damage, put a number of Damage Tokens onto that character's card to indicate the damage. These tokens may be healed by a variety of effects - usually 1 is healed if a character spends an entire turn without entering the Active area. (where fights occur!)

If a character takes damage equal to or greater than their FORTITUDE (including the team's Fortitude Bonus, which is usually +2) that character is Knocked Out (KO'd.) Remove that character from the game, and give 5 GLORY to the player who dealt the final blow. (In a friendly game, just hand the KO'd character card to your opponent, to record the GLORY.)

Whenever a character is damaged by an attack, that character's team gains 1 Fury Token. Place this on the team card (or to the side, if you are using the imaginary default team card.) and try to accumulate enough to activate a RAGE ATTACK! Note that a high team fury means that your team will need to be hit many times before activating your powerful rage attack, while a low team fury means you'll activate your rage attack more quickly.

Rage Attacks

When your team has accumulated 10 Fury (or whatever is specified on your Team Card) - you may activate your Rage Attack. This may be done at the start of combat, or between attacks. Rage Attacks do the following:

Clear all Fury tokens from your Team Card.

Deal 2 damage to all opponents your character is in combat with.

Draw 3 combat cards

Gain 5 Energy Tokens

There is no limit to the number of Energy Tokens you may spend in this combat.

Rage attacks are great for dealing additional damage, beating up a team of attackers, or just getting yourself out of a bad combat situation. Certain teams rely more or less on Rage Attacks - and in the future there will be Combat Events and Team Cards which give access to new specific Rage Attacks.

Kaiju Abilities

Each kaiju has a special ability printed on the back of their card. It is the responsibility of that kaiju's owner to make certain that those abilities are respected during the game. Kaiju abilities are “stronger” than regular card abilities - so if a kaiju's rule text conflicts with another card's rule text - the kaiju ability wins.

The Team Card “from the deep” can make specific characters “immune” to kaiju abilities. This prevents any active use of abilites toward that character, and allows that character to ignore all effects of kaiju abilities - such as +1 damage with “PUNCH” attacks. Abilities which affect one's self, such as EVO Eira's transformation, or Giraffish / Loodicriz's “self revive” are not cancelled, as they do not affect the immune character.

Key Terms

Combo - After playing this card, you keep the initiative! (Has no effect if played without the initiative.) Combo cards are a great way to attack again and again without giving your opponent a chance to respond!

Knockdown - Your opponent must discard a combat card at random. Eliminating options from your opponent is always good. Knockdown effects go especially well with Finishing Blow - which deals +3 damage if your opponent is out of combat cards!

Attributes

Attribute key words are printed on the front of each character, immediately under their name. These represent

Attribute: Claws

Claws are sharp implements meant for tearing or slicing. They are at the end of one or more major limbs - allowing kaiju to actively use them in attacks. Claws are a primary source of edged damage - attacks which use them do not, as a rule, have blunt impacts as a major component of the attack. For example, a tail or handheld weapon with spikes on it would not count as claws, because the primary source of damage is the impact - not the sharp bits.

Attribute: Horns

Horns are solid protrusions which have no nerve endings, and can be used to transfer massive force or momentum from one kaiju to another. Horns can take many forms - but they must be solidly connected to the central mass of the creature. When a kaiju has only one such protrusion, the singular “horn” may be used instead. Horns are often a boon to charging attacks, or to attacks which use the head or body as a blunt instrument of attack.

Attribute: Spikes

Spikes are solid protrusions which are used in a passive fashion to protect areas which might otherwise be vulnerable. Spikes are generally quite numerous, to effectively protect one or more broad areas such as the back, belly, or shoulders. Spikes are very rarely used offensively. Rather, they are used to augment defenses - adding minor damage to defense cards. This makes such cards act like both Defense and Counter Attack cards simultaneously!

Attribute: Teeth

Teeth are sharp protrusions which point inward rather than outward, and are directly connected to powerful jaws. Many kaiju have teeth, but only those kaiju who can effectively use their mouths & teeth for offensive bites against opponents earn the attribute on their character sheet. Teeth are almost always used in very close-in attacks, and are often attacks which put the attacker at some amount of risk. (Putting any part of a hostile kaiju inside your own body as part of an attack is a risky proposition!)

Attribute: Tail

Tails are long flexible limbs which are not used for either locomotion (like legs) or manipulation (like arms.) They often point in a direction other than forward - usually to the rear. Spinning attacks, which for some monsters mean exposing a vulnerable backside, often get a bonus from the presence of a tail. Tails often provide range bonuses as well.

Attribute: Wings

Wings are broad surfaces which act as auxiliary appendages. (In the case of bird-like kaiju, they might be fused with primary appendages as well.) Like tails, they offer selective damage bonuses to spinning or shoulder-based attacks. Wings can sometimes add movement bonuses or range bonuses as well, even for kaiju who do not use their wings to “fly” in the traditional sense.

Attribute: Armor

Armor is thick scales, plates, metal, or other material which does not contain nerve-endings and is meant to absorb & distribute attack damage to help render it harmless. Armor is always heavy - it can sometimes give a movement penalty to non-stationary attacks. The armor icon often appears in RED. Red icons indicate a -1 penalty, as opposed to a +1 bonus. When used in this way on a damage card, the icon means that the given attack deals 1 less damage when used against an opponent who has armor - NOT that it deals less damage if the attacking kaiju has armor!

Attribute: Shield

A shield is a barrier meant to reduce / redirect incoming energy damage. Kaiju with diffuse or non-physical bodies can be said to have the shield trait, as can kaiju who fill the air with particulates or smoke to break up weapon attacks. Some kaiju use projected energy shields as well. Please note that a physical “knight's shield” or buckler-type appendage meant to block melee attacks is more properly considered Armor. Shield icons often appear in RED to indicate that those attacks (usually WEAPONs) deal less damage to kaiju with the Shield attribue.

Key Terms & Icons (unused)

To keep the card game simple, a number of more complex effects and card interactions are planned, but not yet officially supported by the rules. Please ignore any text or abilities which use any of the following keywords or icons: